


Heard a Few Things

by avqct



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Eliza Danvers is a bad parent, F/F, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Child Abuse, Siblings, Sister-Sister Relationship, but better safe than sorry, but not really? that's not the route I necessarily want to go with this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2018-10-18 00:31:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10605546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avqct/pseuds/avqct
Summary: "Alex sometimes wonders if Kara ever truly understood what was happening in that house."Wherein Kara pushes Alex to come to terms with Eliza's treatment of her, and in doing so realizes that maybe it affected her, too.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's 5am and I wrote this in 20 minutes let's do this guys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A weird little bit of exposition as a prologue before we get to the actual action.

The thing was, she could never be sure if Kara had truly understood what was happening.

 

She knew things were different on Krypton, but as a teenager she hadn't _cared._  She didn't ask Kara questions about her life before Earth. She hadn't been able to see past this intruder in her perfect home, her perfect family, her perfect life.

 

But it had never been perfect, had it?

It would be easier to say that everything changed after her father died, but that wasn't strictly true. Her mother had always been hard on her, to be the best at everything she did — sports, classes, friendships, hobbies. Her mother pushed her, sometimes too hard. Still, when Alex broke down from the stress of it all, she knew that her mother would be there with an encouraging hug, rubbing her back and always quick to say, “I'm proud of you”.

 

She didn't want to blame Kara. The girl had lost her entire planet in a day, and the Danvers had had a legitimate reason to worry about her, to put in the extra time and effort to make sure Kara was comfortable and cared for, even if it left Alex by the wayside. Sometimes it rankled.

 

If she were more honest with herself, it had more than rankled. As a teenager, she had been — _furious, heartbroken, aching for any scrap of affection —_ moody _._ And her mother certainly hadn't helped. Some slaps to the face may have changed her attitude toward Kara in the short term, but each stinging reminder only pushed her further and further inside herself. Sometimes Alex felt like an automaton, with one programmed setting that said only “protect Kara”.

 

She didn't resent Kara for it. Who could? Kara may have grown up under a red sun, but she brought bright yellow sunshine with her everywhere she went. Still, she wondered sometimes if Kara understood. If she thought about their teenage years as much as Alex did. If she remembered Alex clutching at her bruised ribs, her breathing shallow, crying at the kitchen table. If she remembered Eliza standing over her, stony-faced, telling Alex that she needed to pull herself together because _no one can know, Kara just doesn't know how strong she is yet, you don't want your sister taken away, do you?_ She wanted to know if Kara remembered her running out of the house, hands balled into fists, her eye slowly purpling and Eliza half-apologizing, half-screaming at her to come back. Of course, _now_ Alex knew why Vicky was the one thing she wouldn't share with Kara, no matter the punishment, no matter how important it was for Kara to fit in, to seem _normal_.

 

Back then, all she had known was that she wanted one thing to herself, just one, and that it drove her to scream things at her mother that she immediately regretted, even before the hit to the face. She'd said, among other things, that Kara wasn't her real sister. She knows Kara remembers that, at least — the look on her face when Alex finally came home was heartbreaking, and she'd spent weeks reassuring her that she hadn't meant it. Kara had even understood about Vicky, perhaps more than Alex had at the time. She'd always been so understanding, even when Alex was being a bratty teenager. So she couldn't blame Kara, even if she sometimes wondered if she remembered, or understood.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole thing is set in an ambiguous timeline because I haven't seen more than 3 or 4 episodes after Mon-El showed up. Maggie POV even though it's sort of accidentally third person omniscient.
> 
> TW: look at the tags, don't want anyone caught off guard

Maggie wished that Kara would have at least warned her.

 

Kara had dropped by the precinct that morning and walked straight up to Maggie's desk. She'd asked to speak privately, but Maggie thought she seemed reluctant. Once she'd led them to the empty briefing room, Kara had revealed that she wanted to have a talk with Alex that night about “something serious”, and wanted Maggie's support. And who, really, could resist Little Danvers nervously adjusting her glasses and practically begging with her eyes for just a little help?

 

Not that she would have resisted anyway, if it had to do with Alex. But she would have liked to have been warned a little first, so she wouldn't have eaten right beforehand.

 

They had just gotten settled on the couch, DVD already in the player. Maggie leaned back and quirked an eyebrow at Kara behind Alex's head, silently asking if she should hit play.

 

Kara nodded decisively, mustering her courage, and spit out, seemingly apropos of nothing, “Do you remember the time I tried to run away?” 

 

Alex glanced over and grimaced. “Of course I do. I was worried you were going to fly away to Timbuktu and get lost, and we'd never be able to find you. I think Mom considered putting a GPS tracker on you once you learned to fly. Why do you ask?”

 

“Do you remember how you shut me in the closet and sat outside it and talked to me until I calmed down?” 

 

Alex looked at Kara apologetically. “I’m sorry, I probably traumatized you, but I knew you cared too much about the house to bust through a wall.”

 

Kara didn't seem to register that Alex had replied at all, too focused on forcing out the rest. “And do you remember that when Mom got home, she…” Kara started to tear up, her voice wavering. “She took  _ me _ out and then locked  _ you _ in there for the rest of the weekend, Alex. I know she told me not to use my hearing, but I couldn't help myself. You were crying, Alex.” Her voice sped up, until the words were tumbling out of her mouth.

“And it was my fault, because she thought you were bullying me and really I was trying to run away from the  _ only _ people who loved me and you were just trying to help, and I tried to tell her but she wouldn't listen and—” 

 

“Kara, it wasn't your fault,” Alex broke in, placing her hand gently on Kara's shoulder to cut her off. “You were just a kid. And I knew how it looked. I hadn't always been the nicest to you. Come on, it was just a closet. You've been in there. It was only like a day and half, anyway,” she said dismissively.

 

Maggie’s gaze wavered between Kara and Alex, her face growing more pale by the second. She began to speak, hesitant. “Ally... you know that isn't okay, right?”

 

“It's not that big of a deal,” Alex replied with a chuckle that sounded more hollow than amused. “I think you both are blowing things a bit out of proportion. Anyways, it's my job to protect you, Kara, no matter what that entails.”

 

Maggie was starting to see where Kara got her do-gooder streak. Kara wasn't just upset when she failed, she was  _ devastated _ when anyone got hurt because of something she had or hadn't done. She couldn't handle other people getting hurt because of her, and maybe Maggie was getting a clue as to why that was.

 

But Kara wasn't finished. “I remember when you got out, too. I saw your wrists. You can't get those bruises in a closet, Alex!” Kara was half-shouting, and finally let her tears fall, silently trailing down her face as she looked unwaveringly into her sister’s eyes.

 

Alex broke eye contact and abruptly got to her feet, heading for the kitchen. “It was a long time ago, Kara. Don't worry about it, okay? Anyone else want a drink?” she asked, her voice pitched higher than usual.

 

Maggie felt like she couldn't breathe. Alex hadn't told her anything like this, hadn't even  _ hinted _ at it. They'd talked about her mother of course, and her high expectations, but not…  _ this. _ Not even when Maggie had told her about the night she'd been kicked out, and that story hadn't been pretty.

 

“I can't stop worrying about it! Ever since that case last week, with that little Euphorian boy with the broken arm… and everyone looked so sad, but all I could think was that the look in his eyes was just like yours when she let you out of the closet. And I didn't  _ understand,  _ Alex, but even once I did, I didn't do anything, and…” she raised her hands to cover her eyes, smearing her makeup as she rubbed at her tears. “I'm just… so  _ sorry.” _

 

At the sight of the littlest Danvers’ tears, Maggie unfroze from her position and reached around to pull Kara gently into a hug. Alex stood leaning against the kitchen island, arms crossed, awkwardly looking on as her girlfriend comforted her sister. “Look, Kara,” she began, her voice deliberately light, “It wasn't that often, and I really did need to be taught to accept you. I was kind of a snot-nosed brat back then.”

 

“Don't lie to me!” Kara looked up and glared. “I have x-ray vision and super hearing! I know how often it was!”

 

Alex jerked upright and her face went blank, staring at Kara like she'd never seen her before. She visibly swallowed, and said lowly, “I'm sorry you had to see all that, then, but it's not as bad as you think.” She attempted a casual tone. “Mom was just hard on me because she wanted me to succeed, and wanted us to be a family. And sure, sometimes, she got carried overboard, but… she was stressed. Her husband had died and she had two kids who were constantly squabbling. Cut her some slack.” 

 

“There isn't any excuse for abuse, Alex,” Maggie added quietly.

 

“Maggie! That's not…” she paused, and visibly redirected. “Kara, I want you to have a relationship with Mom. You deserve to have a family. Can’t we just go back to ignoring this?” she pleaded. 

 

“No!” Kara and Maggie shouted in unison.

  
Alex visibly started. “I… can't do this. I'm sorry.” She was out the door before Kara or Maggie could even respond.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the last chapter, because all of the chapters really ought to be combined but I'm a slow writer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this instead of a 10 page paper due tomorrow. Yikes. It’s finals. This isn’t a fully finished thought, but I figured that something was better than nothing.
> 
> Also literally the only problem with having primarily female characters is that pronouns and referents get jumbled.

Each sat on separate couch cushions, stunned into silence, staring at the closed door that had shut quietly behind the person both of them loved most in the world. It was almost an affront, that the door had softly clicked as it swung closed, instead of slamming into its frame with the force of what had been said.

 

Maggie was the first to break the silence. “I didn’t even realize that when she was afraid of your mother’s reaction to her coming out, she was actually _afraid_ of her reaction. I just thought it was, you know, typical coming out jitters.” Maggie released a sigh. “It just seemed like normal, anxious Alex. I can’t believe I didn’t see —"

 

“Maggie,” Kara interrupted. “It’s not your fault. It’s _my_ fault. I know why she’s always so twitchy at holidays, I’ve always known, but I still invited Mom when she asked me to, even though I knew…”

 

Maggie’s eyes widened in realization. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in the same room as Eliza when she didn’t have a drink in her hand. I know I’ve only been to two family functions, but both times she got drunk before we left, and she kept it up the whole time we were here.”

 

Kara’s only reply was a nod. She scrubbed her hands over her face, further smearing her eyeliner everywhere. “That’s another reason why I wanted to bring it up now. The Fourth of July is coming up, and Eliza called and asked me if we wanted to come out to Midvale and celebrate, like old times. The fireworks were too loud for me when I was younger, so we’d all stay in. But I don’t think I can take another year of mediating when I know, I _know_ , that Alex has every reason to get flat-out drunk every time we get home, and I can’t keep pretending to mediate fairly when all I want to do is take Alex away from there, and _I can’t keep pretending!_ ”

 

Anger filled her voice, and her hands balled into fists seemingly without her knowledge. “I thought that I could finally be the real me when I became Supergirl, but instead I just keep pretending! Every time we see Eliza I have to act like being Supergirl is easy, like I’m never in any danger, because I know that she’ll blame Alex for it! And Alex likes to pretend it’s fine, but I can hear her heart and her lungs — she gets scared, genuinely _scared_ , and I know what — who — she’s scared of! I can’t do this anymore, Maggie!”

 

Maggie gently rubbed her back, between her shoulder blades, until she’d calmed down a little. She began tentatively, wary of hurting Kara in her already fragile state. “I know it’s hard, and you shouldn’t have to keep pretending. But, Kara, I’m not blaming you, but you know I have to ask — why didn’t you tell anyone before?”

 

Despite the detective’s attempt at stepping carefully, Kara’s expression looked even more bleak as she registered the question. “That kind of thing, it doesn’t really happen on Krypton, not that I knew of. And Alex always said she was fine, but the more I do as Supergirl, the more I see… things like that. I _knew_ , but I didn’t really _realize,_  you know? So I did nothing. And I don’t know how I can ever make up for that.” Kara had begun crying again halfway through her explanation, and looked so exhausted and downtrodden that Maggie had to call for a break.

 

“I know Alex, little Danvers, and I’m sure she doesn’t blame you in the slightest. Why don’t we take a break, and then we can brainstorm how we’re going to talk to Alex when she gets back, okay? I’ll walk down the street and pick up some Chinese.”

Kara just nodded, still not looking the detective in the eye. Maggie quickly gathered her coat and wallet, heading out the door and jumping down the stairs two at a time. She lightly jogged down the street until she figured she was out of the range Supergirl could hear without additional focus, and turned into the nearest alley.

 

She leaned her forehead against the cool brick wall of the alleyway, trying to stay out of sight of the apartment windows higher up, and let herself go.

 

Her fists met the brick in a pale imitation of boxing form, her clenched teeth muffling the shouts that threatened to explode from her mouth. She struck the wall repeatedly, viciously, until her knuckles were bloody and the tears no longer lingered threateningly behind her eyes. She turned her back to the wall and slid to the ground, hugging her knees as she took slow, deep breaths. Maggie had kept it together for Alex's sister, but she had known it wouldn't last for long.

 

_How had she not seen it?_ Alex had an almost pathological need to protect Supergirl, who was probably the one person in the world who didn't actually need protecting. Maggie knew no one was _that_ protective without some trauma fueling it, but she'd trusted Alex when she said that her mom had just expected a lot of her. Of course the detective had suspected emotional abuse, such suspicions came with the job… but she hadn't even had an inkling that it could have been more. Maggie felt blindsided.

 

And, honestly, a little bit angry. She had shared intimate details about the night her father kicked her out, about the bruises she'd gotten, and where, and _why_ , but while Alex had been _perfect_ about it, showing a level of understanding and tact that more than justified the trust Maggie had placed in her, she hadn't ever shared that her understanding came from a similar place. That she knew what it felt like because _she'd been there_. And Maggie didn't know how to feel about that. It did seem like Alex was in denial. She hadn’t outright denied that it was abuse, but — oh.

 

Maggie’s thought process shuddered to a stop, and her breath caught as she came to the realization.

 

_It was always Kara_. Alex was doing what she always did — protecting her sister. And she’d let anything, _anything_ , happen to her if it meant that Kara would be safe and happy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guess what! A chapter! It's been months. I can only write this crap when I am both horribly depressed and also obsessed with Alex Danvers, and my Supergirl fervor is coming back around. I'm sorry it took so long, but I am back and updating Tumblr and writing fic.  
> Sorry for the weird spacing difference. When I paste sometimes it puts header tags in empty spaces for no reason I can discern.

Maggie let herself into Alex’s apartment, unsurprised to find Kara up and pacing. She immediately set the food down on the table and went over to her. She put her hands firmly on Kara’s shoulders and tried to look her in the eyes as she said gently, “You can’t beat yourself up over this, Kara. All you can do now is make it right, however you can.”

Kara stilled, and then nodded, refusing to meet Maggie’s eyes. “I know,” she mumbled.

Maggie gently guided her by the shoulder over to the couch, and they settled down, food in hand. Nothing perked Kara up like a good meal, but Maggie couldn’t bring herself to take more than a few bites. 

———

Alex didn't know where she was going. She had hopped on the first stopped bus she saw, hoping to get far enough that Kara would at least have some trouble hearing her. The seat was incredibly uncomfortable, but the further she sunk into her head, the less she felt it.

Alex didn’t know why she was still afraid. She was a DEO agent, and had been for years. She had taken down hulking aliens that had 200 pounds on her, but she was afraid of a middle-aged scientist who was only two inches taller. It was sad. It wasn’t just sad, it was  _ pathetic _ . She was pathetic. 

And she couldn’t take away Kara’s only family. What kind of person would she be if she asked her sister to give up one of only three family members she had left? Her _whole planet_ had died, and she wanted to give up the only mother she had left, and for _Alex_? Who had hidden the fact that she worked for an organization that hunted aliens like her sister, who couldn’t even protect her little sister half of the time, who had _murdered her Aunt in front of her?_ Alex wasn’t about to take another family member away from her, especially not over something as insignificant as her own relationship with their mother. It had stopped when she went to college, anyways, not that leaving had stopped the constant phone calls reminding her that she had abandoned Kara, and that her grades had better make it worth it.

Sometimes, as she lay in bed at night, staring at the blank whiteness of her ceiling and trying to think of nothing at all, she would remember what Kara had said when she had been affected by the red kryptonite. 

_ I see how you’ve always been jealous of me. You didn’t want me to come out as Supergirl because you didn’t want me to own my powers. I can fly! I can catch bullets with my bare hands! And that makes you feel worthless. _

The thing that killed Alex, that made her insides grow cold and dead, was that her sister wasn’t wrong. 

It hadn’t been immediate. The feeling had crept up on her, in every ounce of praise Eliza heaped on her new sister, in every joyous flight Kara took with Alex wrapped in her arms, in every phone call or lecture from Eliza blaming her for Kara’s life choices, in everything she had to give up to keep Kara’s secret safe. Realizing that her job at the DEO was offered only because she was Kara’s adoptive sister had been just another small resentment pushed onto the heaping pile that sat, simmering, in the back of her mind. 

Of course, none of that was Kara’s fault. She could never hate her sister, and for Kara's sake she made a desperate effort to not hate her mother, but she could certainly hate herself. Alex had always believed that she could measure up if she just tried hard enough, but once Kara had become Supergirl, she had truly had to face that she would never be quite good enough.

She could feel her arms moving in spasmodic twitches, and had to concentrate on keeping still. She wanted to yank at her hair, to smack her arm into a wall, to drive a fist into her thigh as hard as she could. It made her stomach turn whenever she thought about it too hard, but the momentary roughness, that quick shock of violence she could control — it made her feel better. It always did. And she couldn't help but think of her mother, and wonder if she was just… keeping up the pattern. The brief satisfaction, the sudden balm of silence in her head, were always followed by such intense shame that it almost wasn't worth it. Almost.

She sat on the bus until the driver called its last stop, robotically getting up from her seat and trodding down the steps. At the bottom stood Kara, arm outstretched, hand reaching out for her like always.

———

“I have to talk to her,” Kara blurted out, belly full and thus feeling more determined. “I need her to know that she's the most important person to me. It doesn't matter if I have to give up Eliza if I can keep Alex.”

That brought a semblance of a smile to Maggie's face. She was growing more fond of Kara by the day. “I think she just needs to know that you believe her, that you care about her, and that you're willing to take her lead in whatever she wants to do about this,” she said with authority.

Kara looked over at her. She was smiling gratefully, but her eyes felt like they were piercing Maggie's soul. Or maybe just x-raying her skull. “How do you always know exactly the right thing to do?”

The detective’s smile grew fixed. “Police training. And,” she paused. She liked her, but she hardly knew Kara. She wasn't about to share her own story with the kid, superhero or not. “I know Alex pretty well at this point. I've sort of been working on the assumption that something of the sort had happened to her, but I just didn't know it was… like that.”

Kara's own smile slowly slid off her face. She looked away, focusing instead on the empty takeout boxes. “I don't think I even realized something was wrong until she let me have her gameboy,” she began, but cut herself off, cocking her head to the side.

In a burst of wind, Kara disappeared, the only evidence of her passage being the creaking of the balcony door.

Maggie was waiting for less than 5 minutes before she heard the balcony door again, looking over to see Kara looking much happier than before and holding a blank-faced Alex around the waist.

“She got off the bus,” Kara said proudly, as if that made any sense to Maggie, who regrettably did not have super hearing. Still, Maggie nodded and smiled. She stood up to guide Alex back to the couch that they had all vacated earlier. Once they were settled, an awkward silence ensued.

She looked over at the sisters, noting that one looked too nervous to begin, and the other looked… empty. She exhaled shakily. Up to her, then.

“So, Kara. You were saying something about a gameboy?”

The younger sister looked up, seemingly snapping out of whatever state she had been in. “Oh! Um, yeah, that was the first time that I knew something was actually wrong. Alex never let me play with her gameboy, ever.”

That brought a slight smile to Alex's face. “Those were delicate electronics. You could have squashed the whole thing just trying to get Mario to jump,” she chimed in quietly.

“That's how I knew it was serious,” Kara replied. Her tone was light, but the way she looked at Alex was anything but.

The sisters stared at each other for a long minute before Alex started, haltingly, to explain.

———

They’d been making fun of Kara.  _ Again. _

The kid couldn’t help it. Her hearing got to be too much sometimes, and it hurt her ears, and so she’d cover them and curl into a ball until the noise stopped drilling into her skull. And sure, for a person who’d never seen someone do anything like it before, Alex could see how it might seem a little weird. That didn’t mean anyone was allowed to make fun of her for it.

She sat in a hard plastic chair in the principal’s office, waiting for them to call her mother. Looking carefully at her clenched fist, she slowly released and flexed each finger one at a time. She smiled, pleased, when nothing appeared to be broken.  _ Except Daryl’s face _ .

The moment she had seen the ring of people around Kara, laughing, she had known Daryl had probably started it. He’d been making snide comments for weeks. Well, even if he hadn’t started it, after this she knew everyone would back off. She’d made quite a statement, and she was rather proud of it. Even the subsequent lecture and two-day suspension from the vice principal couldn’t burst her bubble of satisfaction.

Until her mother came to pick her up. Kara stood next to her, eyes still red and puffy from crying. Alex almost went to her, but one look into her mother’s eyes stopped her. Eliza looked… not happy. And unlikely to listen to anything she had to say. Judging by Kara’s guilty glance at her older sister, the kid had already tried to explain. Explanations had stopped mattering to their mother a while ago, or at least when they were about Alex.

What would she say, anyway? That she'd learned how to punch from watching her mother's fist fly toward her face?

The car ride home was suffocating in its stillness. Even pulling into the driveway couldn’t disrupt the chill that hung in the air. The click of the seatbelts releasing as they made to get out of the car caused Kara to flinch with the sudden sound.

“It’s okay, dear. Just the seatbelt,” Eliza reassured her, her voice tight. They entered the house in silence.

Once they had kicked off their shoes and put their backpacks away, her mother called Alex’s name from the kitchen, voice eerily calm. 

She went, feeling as if each step was drawing her into deeper and deeper water.

Her mother stood in the middle of the room, and waited only long enough for Alex to reach the doorway before beginning. “You know that any attention you draw to Kara or to yourself is a risk! You risked your sister, you risked this family, and you embarrassed me. I’ve had it up to here with your behavior.”

She didn’t make any sort of motion to accompany the statement, only glaring at her eldest daughter, and Alex’s mouth took over before her brain could filter it. “Up to where, exactly?”

She knew it was a mistake as soon as she opened her mouth, and wasn’t at all surprised by the immediate and resounding slap to the face. She was, however, surprised by the squeak she heard behind her. Her eyes widened as she saw her mother look angrily behind her. Eliza advanced, her hand still in the air, and Alex could feel the sudden kick of adrenaline in her blood. She knew her mother wouldn’t hurt Kara, physically  _ couldn’t _ hurt Kara, but the panicked beat of her heart said otherwise. She whipped around, seeing her little sister standing in the doorway, looking utterly confused and a little bit frightened. 

Alex rushed forward, blocking her mother’s advance. She hurriedly bent over to reassure her sister. “Oh, hey Kara, it’s okay. Why don’t you go upstairs? You can even play my gameboy, just be sure to put on some headphones, okay?” She grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around, giving a little push to hurry her. 

Kara looked back, suspicion warring with excitement. Alex never let her play on the gameboy, worried that she would break it. Excitement won out, and Kara quickly squeezed her around the middle before scurrying off to Alex’s room. It had been a hard day for the kid, if she was going completely nonverbal. That was understandable, given everything that had happened — 

Alex’s thoughts were interrupted by a hand gripping her wrist tightly enough to bruise. It felt like the bones were grinding against each other. She was whipped back around, quickly realizing that she’d completely missed whatever her mother had been yelling about. The adrenaline had left her as abruptly as it came, now that she knew Kara was safe. She couldn’t focus on much of anything, but that didn’t seem to matter. Alex came to when her back smacked hard against the corner of the table as her mother shoved past her, storming out of the house. She could hear the car starting outside, and then she was alone.

———

“And I think that was the first time I realized that Kara might actually have noticed anything,” she finished, voice even quieter than it had been when she began. “But, I mean… that wasn't even that bad, so I just assumed you wouldn't remember it.”

Maggie worked her jaw side to side, trying to get relief from the tension headache she'd gained from clenching it so hard. 

Kara was the first to speak. “Alex. That was still… it was still pretty bad.” 

Alex snorted in reply. “Come on. That wasn't even as bad as the first time, let alone any other time. I don't understand why that's such a big deal.”

“Any time is a big deal, Alex,” Maggie interrupted softly. “And that you had to protect Kara, too? That's a lot for a kid to handle.”

Alex grew flushed. “Look, I know she actually couldn't have hurt Kara, I knew it was stupid—”

“It wasn't stupid!” Kara exclaimed. She grabbed her sister by the shoulders, turning her so that they were face to face. “Alex, don't you understand? That's what I want to do for you! I want to protect you as much as you want to protect me! And I have to live with knowing that I didn't help you, back when I was invincible but you still had to be stronger.”

Maggie couldn't see her girlfriend's face, but it felt as if something in the room had cracked in the silence that followed. They waited in silent tension for a beat, then two, before Alex gradually let her head fall forward, burying it in Kara's shoulder.

  


“I'm sorry,” was barely audible, muffled as it was by Kara's sweater.


End file.
